THE PEACE TREATY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3298, 9 August 1943, Page 6

THE PEACE TREATY

PRINCIPLES ANNOUNCED MR MULHOLLAND’S VIEW MATTER OF RAW MATERIALS In his presidential address to the. Dominion conference of the Farmers’ Union, Mr W. W .Mulholland included many matters of importance to the future welfare of New Zealand. Speaking on post-war conditions, the president said:— “With the increasing hope that, the next year or two will see the end .of the war, it is time to be giving some attention to post-war conditions. Already principles are being established and written into more or less binding undertakings which must play an important part in determining the policy of the peace treaties, and, in turn, must have an enormous influence upon world. The Atlantic Charter, which appears frequently to be quoted with little knowledge of its actual words, is the first, and perhaps the most important, of these undertakings. The fourth and fifth paragraphs of it are as follows:—

“ ‘They (the high contracting parties) will endeavour with due regard for their existing obligations to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access on equal terms to the trade and to the raw materials of-"’ the world which are needed for their economic economic conditions in the post-war prosperity.’

“ ‘They desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing for all improved labour standards, economic advancement and social security.’ Access to Raw Materials “From the point of view of an agricultural exporting country such as ours, an important omission is obvious. Equality of access to raw materials is specifically laid down, but there is no mention of access to markets. It has seemed to me that undue emphasis has been laid on access, or want of access, to raw materials immediately prior to the war, and since. The historical fact is that countries which are usually regarded as having lacked access to raw materials did not lack that access because the raw materials were inaccessible, but because they deliberately closed their markets to the raw materials that were avail-1 able. Wool and Rubber “Germany was not denied wool, but deliberately limited the amount that she would accept in order’ to build up self-sufficiency by developing the artificial product. France and Italy deliberately refused to accept wheat when millions of tons of wheat were clogging the stores of the wheat-pro-ducing countries of the world. Rubber production had to be controlled because Germany and other countries were limiting the amount which they would accept because they wished again to be self-sufficient through the production of a synthetic product. That the peoples of these countries suffered through lack of raw materials is unquestionable, but equally the producers of raw materials suffered through lack of markets which they lacked not because there was not a •need for their products, but because by deliberate action on the part of Governments, markets were denied to them.”